Internet of Things (IoT) Research

IoT Wireless Technologies

I recently became interested in the various technologies and integrations involved in what many are calling the Internet of Things (IoT) or more recently, the Internet of Everything (IoE). Yes, it’s a broad category and over-used term. No, not all things are equal.

Whether there will be x or y billion or even trillion of connected “things” deployed inside and outside of our businesses and homes, it is fascinating.

I began collecting information on various home automation hubs, industrial IoT Platforms, hardware solutions, software technologies, and variety of different “things”. All of the data I collated into what I am calling my “Thing of Things” (ToT) database. OK, it’s a Google Sheet for now.

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At this point, I’ve collected over 5,000 data points across a collection of 248 organizations, 112 product lines, and 289 attributes. I’ve kept track of the various sources and a lot of it is data that I’ve gathered by trolling vendor’s spec sheets. It’s far from complete and yet it’s bearing some initial insights.

Here are a couple of charts produced from my ToT.

The first chart is a high level count of the number of product lines using each wireless technology. The “Home Automation” category is mostly comprised of hubs. “Things” include lights, buttons, cameras, thermostats, sensors, power plugs, etc.

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This chart shows a bit more detail on various categories and the wireless technologies used within each category.

Thanks Edward for the positive feedback. As this is something I do on the side it’s nice to hear that people are finding it useful and motivates me to keep going! Yes I agree scale and security risk/reward is going to be one of the biggest challenges that needs to be solved